Asphalt or concrete for shed pad?

[MMagis]

I don’t think it’s a great choice if you plan to keep it for years to come. I also wonder how much you’ll have to pay for a paving company to haul all their equipment over for a 16’x20’ shed. Was “half the price” an actual quote for the shed?

 

[SPIKER]

I'm with others, who say go concrete or just a gravel base w a good wood floor for the shed, if it is a floor-less shed then concrete is only way to go for longevity and easy of use.

My place has 3 sheds when I bought it, two have/had wood floors (14'x18') one built so it can be drug around and was placed on (? pads?) it was there when I bought the place. 2nd was a 16x20 dirt floor with coffee cans of concrete for it to set on. & 3rd was build w piers (old phone poles>?) and a plywood floor 18" above dirt.

The Wood floored shed (on skids & pads/?) I have done NOTHING to other than having to kill off a couple wood chucks & replaced the shingles on top.

The Dirt floor shed in 06 I jacked up and poured concrete inside/under and set it back down costs was under $600 for all the labor wood blocking AND a concrete truck with 4 yards of concrete. Prior to doing this everything inside was moldy and growing mushrooms, essentially the shed was useless to USE it. Note I did the work of jacking & finishing the concrete myself w help from my brother & nephew.













The 3rd shed is a bit farther away from the cabin, it has the plywood floor and pier/poles as support. It also is about useless to USE as it has step up and wood chucks have piled dirt dug under it and rotted the floor. it needs to be tore out and done like the pics above.

Mark

 

[boggen]

with others as in against pavement for inside a building. just rolling around on it to work on vehicles to tractors. to sweeping stuff off floor (saw dust to just plain dust), to work benches to stuff on smaller caster wheels wanting to sink in and making dents in the pavement. "meh" go with dirt, rock, concrete, wood floor. something else besides pavement.

toss a lean to out on each side the building. so you have a roof / ceiling over an area. and toss some poles down into the ground as needed for support. and use it to park stuff / store stuff under. pavement in this type of situation most likely a nice thing. but inside *no thank you*

think about having a shed out on the bigger parking lots, walmart, menards, lowes, etc... and looking at cracks and bumps just from you push a shopping cart across it. granted those parking lots most likely had bigger heavier machines, heat and cure and compact it all much better. than i doubt you will ever get for a spot for a spot inside a shed. but if you start looking around "edges" were curbs and more so were grass starts and there is no "curb per say. you should start seeing lots of cracking.

 

[WM75Guy]

As has been said a lot depends on the base. Asphalt is always somewhat fluid so it will move under pressure. Cities use it for streets but it is best to have curbs to prevent it from moving out to the sides. If you could pour a concrete perimeter beam and put the asphalt down after it sets up it would be better plus you would have something to attach to the building. Of course that adds to the cost.

 

[redman135]

2 points 1) To get the compaction under the asphalt correct you will need to roll a pad about 2' larger than the asphalt being laid.
2) oil and diesel/petrol spillages will eat or dissolve the asphalt over time so you will need an oil drip tray the length of your tractor.

 

[jack707]

I would not use asphalt in any out building! concrete or gravel

 

[EddieWalker]

While I'm totally a concrete guy, I would not have a problem with asphalt for a flooring for storage of farm equipment. I'm not sure if I would want it for household storage because of the oil and tar emitting vapors. One of the things I keep reading on the comments about it moving and not being as strong have me wondering how this would apply to a storage situation. Asphalt fails due to weight on it AND MOVEMENT. If you do not have vehicles driving across it, making turns, bouncing, braking and all those things that happen on roads, I seriously doubt it will ever fail when used for storing stuff on it.

I once had a shop with gravel floors. I don't think I would ever do that again. I would rather have dirt over gravel.

 

[davesl708]

Thanks everyone. I think I will go with concrete. I am not an asphalt lover. When I bought this place it had asphalt drive and first thing I did was rip it out and put in concrete.

The price for the asphalt was tempting but the life afterwards does not sound so appealing.